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Monday, April 18, 2011

Polar kraft Outlander...Inspired by Maine Waters!

Here's a great story...kind of a modern day "David and Goliath".  It's a story of how a small Maine dealership stood up to some pretty big corporate players and proved them wrong.

Hamlin's Marine has been the world's top volume dealer of Polar kraft aluminum boats for the past four years running (Polar kraft Boats).  But not too long ago, Hamlin's was a top dealer for a brand of boats that had a pretty good reputation at the time.  Our prior brand of aluminum boats was built by a proud group of people in Minnesota and these boats bore the name of Lund.  In 2005, Lund was purchased by Brunswick Corporation, the world's largest boat company.  Brunswick also happens to own the Mercury outboard brand.  As you may be aware, Brunswick proceeded to force dealers to power Lund with Mercury outboards.


For many reasons, the atttitude of Brunswick Corporation did not meld well with Hamlin's Marine, nor our customers for that matter.  Soon, we made the tough decision to take on a new brand of aluminum boats, the little known brand of Polar kraft.  In order to launch the brand, Hamlin's Marine teamed up with L.L.Bean to design a series of Outlander boats in the Polar kraft line.  Quality construction with a focus on the hull and substructure was the primary focus on the Outlanders.  Check out this video to see the extruded aluminum stringers, horizontal connecting torque boxes, and extruded hat ribs:





Within one year, the Polar kraft line was outselling our Lund line at our dealership...4 to 1.  An executive at Lund made a personal visit to Hamlin's Marine in 2006 to let us know they would be taking the line away from our dealership and relocating it to a Tracker Marine dealer that believed in the Mercury line of outboards. 

Now there are twelve different models in the Outlander series, and sales are booming across the country.  Check out Outlander 186 SC that started it all here: Polar kraft Outlander 186 SC

This boat was first drawn on a big boardroom table in Freeport by a team from Hamlin's and L.L.Bean!  Here at Hamlin's we couldn't be more proud of the Polar kraft and the Yamaha and Honda outboards that power them.  Please come in into our showrooms and see for yourself. http://www.hamlinsmarina.com/.

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